Commission approves Seahawk Cove extension after months‑old tree‑mitigation dispute; developers to cover specimen‑tree cost

Winter Springs commissioners approved the Seahawk Cove extension — final engineering, final plat, a set of waivers, removal of three specimen trees and an associated development agreement — after a contentious debate about tree‑mitigation fees that reach back to development agreements finished in 2015–2017.

The commission voted to authorize the project while directing staff to confirm whether earlier payments covered the broader project’s arbor mitigation. Commissioners Caruso, Diaz and Bruce voted to approve; Deputy Mayor Cade Resnick and Commissioner Sarah Baker voted no.

The dispute centered on who owed what under previously recorded agreements. The developer and its attorney told the commission that, during an earlier phase of the town‑center project, an adjusted arbor fee totaling roughly $149,660 had been paid and intended to cover mitigation across the larger Town Center Phase 2. The city’s draft development agreement for the Seahawk Cove parcels, however, carried a staff‑calculated mitigation requirement of $227,400 tied to a recent tree survey the applicant submitted.

“We paid the $149,660,” attorney Lisonbee Turnbull Jones said for the applicant. She said the earlier agreements and modifications were negotiated and paid in reliance on those documents and the city’s prior staff calculations. “The…